By Miranda Pell
Paris’ iconic Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors on Tuesday as Europe experienced an extreme day of heat, reaching 40C in the French capital. It comes as England recorded its warmest June on record, and Barcelona recorded its hottest June in more than 100 years. Health warnings remained in place across several European countries due to the extreme heat. The abnormally hot weather 鈥渋s exposing millions of Europeans to high heat stress鈥 with temperatures more typical of July and August, said Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Barcelona鈥檚 Fabra Observatory reported an average temperature for last month of 26C, breaking records since the data began in 1914. It said a single-day high of 37.9C for June was recorded on Monday. The Spanish city of Barcelona is usually spared the worst heat in Spain, due to its location between hills and the Mediterranean. Ramon Pascual, a delegate for Spain鈥檚 weather service in Barcelona, told the Associated Press the 鈥渧ery intense heatwave鈥 is clearly linked to global warming. Mr Pascual said inhabitants of the Mediterranean region are not being helped by the rising sea temperatures, which greatly reduce any cooling effects of a nearby body of water. Spain鈥檚 weather service said recent surface temperatures for the Mediterranean near the Balearic Islands are 5-6C higher than average. Spain鈥檚 national average for June of 23.6Celsius was 0.8C hotter than the previous hottest June in 2017. Temperatures were forecast to reach 40C in the French capital Paris. National weather agency Meteo-France placed several departments under the highest red alert and more than 1,300 schools were partially or fully closed. Visitors to the Eiffel Tower without tickets were told to postpone their visits as the summit was closed until Thursday for 鈥渆veryone鈥檚 comfort and safety鈥. Climate experts are warning that future summers are likely to be hotter than any recorded to date, with temperatures exceeding 40C expected every year by 2100. Portugal’s weather service confirmed that the highest single temperature ever recorded in mainland Portugal for the month of June at 46.6C on June 29 in the town of Mora, west of Lisbon. And in Turkey, firefighters continue to tackle wildfires, that have forced the evacuation of some 50,000 residents, for the third consecutive day.